Zdrastvuitye!
Only a week and a half left and I will be in Russia!!!! I'm so excited, I can't even contain it! I already love the people and I don't even know them yet! My district will get our travel plans this Friday, so I will be able to tell you about all of that next week. Based on what I've seen from previous missionaries who have gone to Samara, we will most likely have a direct flight from SLC to Moscow, a 12 hour layover in Moscow, and then a train ride or something to Samara. It'll be an adventure for sure! Sister McKell and I and one other Elder will be traveling to Samara together. Many selfies will be taken on this excessively long journey.
Thankfully the cold that I was battling only lasted a solid 3 days. I was totally fine by Wednesday evening (of last week). I got to go on a fun little field trip off campus this week and it was really weird to see the real world. Sister McKell had to prepare for a performance, so I decided to go on splits with Sister Kim and Sister Jessop so that I would have time to study. I didn't realize that Sister Kim had an appointment scheduled at the Sports Medicine clinic for her knee, so I got to go with them. Sister Kim hurt her knee when she was young and continued to hurt it throughout her life. The other other day she twisted it weird and it started to hurt pretty bad. By the time she was able to make the appointment her knee was totally fine, but she wanted to make sure it would be alright on her mission. Anyways, it felt so strange to ride the shuttle through Provo and see the real world! I sort of forgot that people have lives outside of the MTC. Sitting in the doctors' office was pure bliss. I love the atmosphere of medical places. We got to watch Sister Kim get examined by a Sports Med doctor and it brought back so many memories. She also got X-Rays which was really cool to see since I've never had to experience that before. At the end of the appointment, they gave her a brace and said she'd be fine. Great use of 3 hours (my sarcasm hand is raised).
Pretty much all of the lessons that Sister McKell and I taught this week were very spiritual. There was one lesson in particular that basically punched me in the stomach with the spirit. This was our last lesson with our investigator Galeena before baptism and we wanted to make sure that all feelings of doubt or discomfort were removed before her big day. We decided to show her the video entitled, "благодаря ему" (Because of Him). Probably the best inspirational clip I've ever seen. I honestly don't think I've EVER felt the spirit so strong in my life. Being able to testify about how wonderful and loved she is was indescribable. It really helped me see that all of this... my life, my family, this mission, everything... is because of Jesus Christ. Baptism is such an amazing, life changing experience and I'm so glad that I got to help her have that opportunity. If I was able to feel the spirit like that with a fake investigator, I can't even imagine how much stronger that will be with real people who want to change their lives.
On a less spiritual note, all of the Russian Sisters decided that it would be a fun idea to have a vechereenka (party), so we did. We all have no idea why, but some random person sent one of the Russia Sisters a 14 lb carrot cake with a birthday note attached to it. She has no idea who it's from, and her birthday is in May. Very weird, but it made for some great party food. Sister Kim had some chips and salsa laying around, so we ate some of that. Sister Jessop had some glow sticks, so we sat around in a glowstick-lit room. It was a ton of fun! It felt like a really big, really weird sleepover that only lasted about 40 minutes because of quiet time. Still great nonetheless.
Sunday was a crazy busy day of meetings because Sister McKell and I are Sister Training Leaders as of last week, so that's been a lot of fun! The devo on Sunday was pretty good. We had already heard from this Brother before because he spoke about a month ago. Got to love the 9 week MTC life. Still really good though. After that, my district decided that it would be fun to watch Legacy in Japanese. Horrible idea. Everyone except two of our Elders left after 20 minutes. Sister McKell and I went back to our room to help Sister Kim and Sister Jessop pack. Best decision every! We had such a great time helping them get everything together. Many laughs and photographs. They left at 4:30 Monday morning, so we got up with them to say goodbye. They gathered all of their remaining belongings and we escorted them to the bus. It was a very bitter-sweet moment. They are both going to do great things in Moscow. Even though our room is empty and quiet now, they are still here in spirit. So many memories! There is a work for both of us to do in Russia, the Lord just needed them in there a little bit before us. On to mother Russia!
Fun fact! My district's classroom has a camera in it. No other classroom in the entire building has a camera in it. We have all come to the conclusion that this is because of one of our Elders. This particular Elder is named Staraisheena (Elder) Sparhawk (awesome name) and he is from Saudi Arabia. His dad works there or something. Elder Sparhawk had to be finger printed and went through an interview process that was intended to identify whether or not he is a terrorist when he first got here. We have decided that this camera is intended to make sure Elder Sparhawk isn't making any terrorist advances on us. We all get a huge kick out of this because he is literally the most innocent person I've ever met in my life. I will attach a picture just so you can see how non-terroristic he looks. Elder Sparhawk is the one standing in front of the other Elder.
This week for our Skype appointment, Sister McKell and I got to teach a Russian member who lives in Boise right now. Her name is Svetlana and she is from the Baltics. I got so excited when she said she lives in Boise that I started to reply in English. She speaks English, so she knew what I was saying, but it was kind of embarrassing. I love these Skype appointments, they are so fun. Only one left! Oh yeah, speaking of embarassing moments, in one of our lessons yesterday, our investigator was asking about the symbolism of the tree of life. Sister McKell thought that the word he was using for tree was the word for temple. Imagine describing a tree as if it were the temple and that is about how well that lesson went. I was so confused the entire time, but our investigator was highly amused.
Well, that's about it this week! I can't wait to share my travel arrangements with you in the next email! Then I will be able to tell you when I can call home and such. I hope you all have a wonderul week! Remember to read the scriptures and say your prayers!
Da Svidanya!
Love,
Cectpa Megan Wagstaff
No comments:
Post a Comment